lover of the black rose; unfettered and alive; chief archivist of the western slopes; another of Yemaya's babes in the world; Joachim's distant star; boring stories of - glory daze

Friday, July 03, 2009

i bet you remember...

Alright, I resisted: but, at the behest (I think she was behesting) of Sister San, I decided to give it up for the KOP. No moonwalk, none of the usual footage. I thought of going back to Jackson 5 days, but star that he was, he was novelty for me then, not genius. Genius, for me, came through with the Off the Wall album, the gorgeous joyous exuberance. But, I couldn't find anything to really capture OTW. Thriller was off limits: too obvious. Not long ago, I was tracking down Patrice Rushen (wonderful jazz pianist, all the way back to Jean-Luc Ponty in the 70s, but also the jive-popgirl of "Forget Me Nots") and saw, if memory serves, that she had something to do with this video (arrangement?). Though Michael is on the downhill side of his transfiguration, the title seems perfect, since all of us can certainly remember the time. Dig this, if you will, bathe in those background whispering voices, marvel at the man's groovymoves, and remember the time. Blessings to him as he rises.

15 Comments:

Wow, what a production! And I’m going, “Is that Eddie Murphy?” Yes! And Magic Johnson… And the KOP himself, what a talented, pretty guy! Ya gotta love ‘im, there’s no choice. I never bought one of his albums ‘cause hard rock ruled for me, but for sure I’ve always been an appreciator of him, his dance skills, his hot, hot, hot music. Great video choice, Professor : )

Sister Duchess (does that make me a Duke or Earl of Blogging? - surely not King): I caught them (the J5) early on, nothing really special to me beyond the novelty, though there was one really cool sort of later Soul Train appearance where they filmed their dance moves to look like lava from lava lamps coming out of their bodies as they moved. I remember hearing some from very cool music coming from my sister Julee's room one day in the late 70s - "What's that?" "Michael Jackson. Off the Wall." - That stuck with me, though I never bought it. Thriller was just pure pop bliss, chock full of hits. "Human Nature" is a beautiful song; "Thriller," song and video: just awesome, great fun. After that, basically a 5/6 year period, it all got to be too big and schlocky (and then cosmetic). MJ's 1978-1984 days were like Stevie Wonder's absolutely do no wrong days of 1971 through 1976 (Music of My Mind - Talking Book - Innervisions - Fulfillingness's First Finale - Songs to the Key of Life). Days of channeled genius, we wanted more, but we can't all keep writing Lonesome Dove over and over again, can we?

In another life I chaperones a group of mentally challenged teenagers to a concert where Sister Sledge was the main act and the Jackson 5 was just fluff. Unfortunately my strongest memory is trying to escort about 10 girls to the rest room and back in the concert hall and terrified I might lose some on the trip...Thriller was the only thing I ever bought and I watched his videos back when MTV was all about the music. This was a great road trip back.

Wow, Murat. I was in Taiwan when this came out. I missed it. I couldn't believe that Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson got into this, but hey, what can I say. Loved the dance moves. You know how to pick them.

That was another life, Dee. When the M in MTV stood for music and not mildew or monsense? It's probably a good thing, though: I'd probably still be in front of the toob if the mothership still made music as its core. Awesome days.

J5 as fluff I can believe: like I say, novelty act: Michael needed to break out, just like when Stevie negotiated his own deal with Berry Gordy at Motown and hit the 6 year jackpot.

No. I was surrounded by diapers and three kids 14 months apart without cable tv. I had twins and fourteen months later a third. So no wonder I missed it. By 92, this would have been in Taipei, maybe not further south unless it was a bigger city.

Teresa: Yikes. And if memory serves, those diapers would have been sans washer/dryer. Defense enough from the MJ juggernaut: by '92, it was more carnival than magic, with these brief glances of lingering fun.

I was in the States by then without my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law to help. The diapers were disposable, bad for the environment, but all I could do because we were using the laundromat and didn't have the wherewithal to live there washing cloth diapers. But our tv was usually tuned to Sesame Street to help the kids learn English fast.

We started with cloth diapers with the twins in Taiwan, but that lasted just a few months. We got a washing machine for a wedding present, but it was much smaller and less effective than an American machine. The Chinese start potty training at 3 or 4 months after a fashion, but it is labor intensive. You learn to watch the child's face for the split second before they go and rush to hold them over a toilet (or the ground outside). You need more adults than children to effectively carry it out. Luckily the floors are all tile over there...